‘Law and Order approach to suicide is bound to fail’

Jan 20, 2010 News

– Health Minister

By Fareeza Haniff

A law and order approach to deal with the issue of suicide in Guyana will not be successful. This is according to Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy who told a number of participants at a suicide workshop held yesterday at the Regency Suites that such an approach is bound to fail and will in no way help to solve or prevent suicide in the country.
In this regard, Minister Ramsammy also urged for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to take a more progressive view of addressing the issue as a public health challenge.
“A law and order approach to suicide is bound to fail. It has been on the books for hundreds of years….it cannot address the issue. Our advocacy is strong that suicide should not be treated as a criminal act. We believe that the statutes need to be changed. This is a public health problem and we need to deal with it as a social issue and not as a law and order issue,” Dr. Ramsammy urged.
While pointing out that decriminalizing suicide is not under his jurisdiction, Minister Ramsammy explained that the Health Ministry will continue to advocate that persons who attempt suicide should not be charged.
“If you look at people who commit suicide – by and large they are gentle, peaceful people…a lot of them are law-abiding citizens but they have problems. So it must be addressed in that context and we mustn’t get distracted…we have enough law and order issues to address…but suicide is not one of them.”
Globally, suicide is now recognised as one of the leading causes of death in young people and depending on the region of the world, suicide would rank within the top ten causes of death for young people between the ages of 15 and 40.
In Guyana, it is the number one cause of death among young people between the ages of 15 to 40.
In 2008, there were 168 verified deaths due to suicide in Guyana while there were 458 attempted suicides in the country for the same year.
The workshop was held in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Dalhousie University Department of Psychiatry. It was facilitated by Dr. Brian Mishara.
PAHO Country Representative, Dr. Kathleen Israel, in her address to the participants explained that everyone has a role to play in the prevention of suicide. This, she noted, can be done simply by persons being vigilant and supportive to those who might be troubled. Dr. Israel explained that collaboration with organisations in effectively tackling the issue is important since suicide is preventable and manageable.
She urged for the integration of mental health into the general public health arena given the fact that mental health is still very much stigmatized. “As long as we continue to isolate people and treat them in a way that makes it appear that the only way to manage them is some custodial kind of care and do not strengthen the aspect of integration, we will be playing into the issue of stigma and discrimination of people with mental health.” She added that, “none of us is immune from mental health issues; none of us is immune from stress, depression or anxiety.”
Given the seriousness of the suicide issue in Guyana, the workshop was aimed at strengthening the health sector’s capacity to provide mental health care services.
This was done by enhancing suicide risk assessment and risk management competencies among existing health workers in primary and specialty mental health care services and by building gatekeeper and support capacity within communities for persons at risk for suicide.
Participants at yesterday’s forum worked towards developing capacity to gain an understanding of the confluence of risk and protective factors associated with suicide and suicide behaviours in individuals and groups in Guyana.

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